Luke’s career is on the up

A Sheffield actor is celebrating after a film he starred in was nominated for Best Short Film at Cannes Film Festival.

Luke Goddard, of Ecclesfield, was thrilled to win the starring role in short film ‘Our Father,’ which tells the story of a 20-year-old Yorkshire lad thrust into the action of World War II.

And now the 24-year-old, who has been training with StandBy Method Acting Studio in Sheffield for five years, is hoping the film, which will premiere at the festival in May, could lead to more big projects.

“I loved making this film,” said Luke, whose own great-grandfather served in World War II.

“It’s a period in history I’ve always been interested in and I spent a lot of time doing research for this part into young lads from this part of the country who found themselves in incredibly difficult circumstances during the war.”

And Luke admits his own family history was a huge inspiration during filming.

“The 20 minute film was filmed over the course of four days in the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire, which looks very much like the area of northern France we were trying to recreate,” he said.

“I kept a photo of my great-grandfather with me throughout all the filming, and often looked at it before a scene to remind myself that the character I was playing represented thousands of young men, just like my great-grandfather, who didn’t want to be fighting, who didn’t want to be at war.”

Luke hasn’t ruled out making the trip to Cannes for the festival next month and says he is excited to see what the future holds.

“I think I’m well placed in Sheffield for this industry - and my Yorkshire accent has certainly never caused me any problems!”